


Great Timing

by casdeanbee



Series: Castiel, Jimmy and Dean [2]
Category: Supernatural
Genre: Anxiety, Awesome Dean Winchester, Big Questions, Castiel and Dean Winchester are Dorks, Castiel and Dean Winchester in Love, Comfort, Complete, Couch Cuddles, Established Castiel/Dean Winchester, Father!Castiel, Fluff, M/M, Original Character(s), Protective Dean Winchester, Sick Castiel (Supernatural), Sickfic, Sleepy Cuddles, Some Plot, Spooning, Supportive Dean Winchester, Vomiting, can be read independently, he catches it, i.e. cas hates getting sick, mentions of autism, part of a series, slight emetophobia
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-21
Updated: 2019-06-24
Packaged: 2020-05-15 23:53:35
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 17,554
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19306414
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/casdeanbee/pseuds/casdeanbee
Summary: Castiel's son, Jimmy gets ill with sickness. Cas helps him recover but ends up catching it as well (of course). He'd wanted to ask Dean an important question that night but Cas decides to wait until he's feeling better.Luckily Dean is there to help Cas through it, but things don't exactly go to plan. Cas can't seem to wait any longer to ask, even though a bathroom floor isn't exactly a romantic setting.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This fic is part of a series and there will be lottss more context if you've read the OG fic (obviously, heh), but it can be read independently all the same. So, if you're reading this as an individual fic, all you need to know:
> 
> Cas has a son called Jimmy (3y/o) and they live in Scranton (Penn.). Cas (25y/o) and Dean (28y/o) have been dating for around 4 months and, yes, Cas has something important to ask Dean.

**Monday**

Cas opens the fridge, looking what they have in to eat for their evening meal. “You feel like anything?” He asks Jimmy who is standing behind him. He’s been a bit quiet tonight actually.

“Not really.” He replies halfheartedly.

“How about tuna pasta?” Cas pouts, trying to think of things while staring at the contents of the fridge.

Jimmy frowns. Cas takes that as a no.

“Unless we go easy. What about chicken? Chicken nuggets?”

His son shakes his head.

“No?” Cas is the one frowning this time and he turns around so he can crouch in front of Jimmy. “That’s your favourite – are you feeling alright?”

The boy shrugs, gaze downcast, fiddling with the ear of Husky. “’m not hungry.”

Cas reaches to put his palm against Jimmy’s forehead. It isn’t overly warm but maybe a little more than usual. “Hm. Maybe you’re coming down with something. Are you just not hungry or is there something else?”

“Don’t know daddy.”

Cas nods slowly, filtering through his thoughts to come up with a plan. “Okay. Tell you what, I’ll put you some food in and if you decide you want it, you can have it. But if not, no problem, yeah?”

“Okay.”

“Okay.” Cas smiles, gently lifting Jimmy up so he can carry him to the living room. “I’ll put the TV on.”

He sets his son down on the cushions and grabs the remote, switching the TV to a kids programme. _Tom and Jerry –_ good, that always makes Jimmy laugh.

“There. You alright here for a bit while I sort our food?”

Jimmy nods, so Cas kisses his forehead before returning to the kitchen.

He’s been bored at work today. Mondays always seem to drag for obvious reasons (sudden early morning after the weekend… _ew)_ , and it seems like the clients feel the same. Who wants to sell paper at nine on a Monday morning? Who wants to _buy_ paper at nine on a Monday morning?

Being the receptionist, this also means that he always has a pile of messages and stuff that has built up during the weekend to work through within the first hour. After that, it all goes quiet and extremely boring.

Oh well. He’s home now. And he’s booked Wednesday off to get some house stuff done. He also needs to renew Jimmy’s day care medical paperwork because of the diagnosis from Paul and Hayley. With some more thought, they ended up concluding that Jimmy doesn’t have borderline personality disorder. They just think he has a separation issues (including a stronger want to be attached to Cas) and think the boy is somewhere on the autism spectrum. Not severe, but noticeable.

So…yeah, he has lots of paperwork to complete. The daycare does like to be thorough.

Tomorrow is going to drag just as much as today though because Dean isn’t at work – he’s across state at a business convention with the sales team. Cas is _already_ missing him. Since Dean is usually a mere few feet away from him at work, it feels strange to look up from his desk and not see his boyfriend sitting there. Y’know, suddenly he’s about four hours away.

Dean had been complaining about being stuck with the team for days before they left for the convention. Cas just found it amusing.

 

* * *

 

“Night, darling.” He murmurs as he pulls the blankets up to tuck Jimmy in. The kid hasn’t really eaten anything so he knows something is up. Luckily, he’s managed to coax Jimmy into drinking some juice and eating half a cracker though. Cas will assess the situation in the morning but for the time being, he’s just going to make sure he’ll be able to hear if Jimmy needs him. “Shout me if you need me, alright?”

“’kay.” The boy agrees, shifting position a few times to get properly comfortable. Cas stays with him, stroking his hair until he falls asleep. He’s a little worried, but so far Jimmy is showing no signs of anything being too majorly wrong. It’s just that the little boy is usually so chatty, but tonight he’s barely said anything.

Cas stays up working on his laptop for a while before going back upstairs to bed. He usually has the TV on in the background but he wanted to make sure he’d hear if something was up with Jimmy.

Yawning, he closes his laptop and removes his glasses before standing up to go around turning the lights off. He gets himself a glass of water then makes his way up the stairs, poking his head into Jimmy’s room to check he’s okay. Fast asleep. Good good.

Satisfied, Cas enters his own room and changes into his pyjamas. He gets ready in his bathroom before finally reaching his bed, slipping under the covers. A small sigh leaves him as he closes his eyes and gets comfortable, only to hear his phone buzzing on his bedside table.

He cracks an eye open and reaches for the phone so he can turn it on its side to see the caller ID. Dean.

“Hi.” He says sleepily, putting the phone on speaker so he can put it flat on his chest and rest his arms by his sides.

 _“You were about to go to sleep weren’t you.”_ Dean says in amusement.

“Yeah but it’s nice to hear your voice so I don’t mind.”

 _“It’s been two days babe.”_ Dean chuckled.

“I know, it’s just been boring without you.” He shrugs even though Dean can’t see him.

_“I’m flattered. How’s things?”_

“Fine I guess. Work was crappy without you but it’s nice to be home.”

_“How’s Jimmy?”_

“I think he’s coming down with something. He didn’t want to eat anything and his forehead’s a bit warm.”

_“Aw man. Hope he’s okay. I’ll be back tomorrow at like, I dunno, five-ish? I’ll drop in on you, yeah?”_

“If you want. Although if you want to just go home that’s okay too.”

_“Nah I’ll come see you since you miss me so much.”_

Cas smiles at that. “Okay sounds good. How’s it been at the convention?”

_“Actually pretty funny. I challenged everyone to a company hotdog eating contest and we got put at opposite ends of this big table where all the contestants were sitting. I left before it started and watched from the back while they were all stuffing their faces, thinking I was there as well. They lost the contest, and when they realised I didn’t do it, they shunned me for a good half hour. Worked in my favour, of course. I got some peace.”_

Cas laughs. Dean always manages to squirm out of things somehow. Cas has no idea how he manages it so easily.

_“But anyway, I’ll let you go to sleep. You sound tired.”_

As if on cue, Cas is overcome by one of those powerful yawns that makes his body stretch pleasantly.

 _Dean chuckles. “I think I’m gonna go to bed too, to be honest. Long day.”_ Cas can hear Dean’s smile in his voice. _“You haven’t fallen asleep on me, have you?”_

“No.” Cas huffs a laugh. “Carry on and I will though. Tired.” He whines jokily. He doesn’t expect Dean’s reply to be dirty in the slightest, but it is.

_“Oh, trust me, I know you’ll fall asleep. Like that time when we were doing it and you fell asleep half way through fucking.” Dean snorts. “I thought you were dead or something, but then you started, like, snoring really quiet. I had to pull out and get the covers over us.” Dean pauses and laughs, adding. “Blue balls off the century.”_

Cas rolls his eyes. “You’re leaving out the detail that I’d already come twice that night because of _your_ teasing ass with that feather and the handcuffs you picked up at the store. And I’d had a long day. I was spent.” He reasons, trying to fake being all frustrated but there’s amusement tickling his voice.

_“I know, I know. I’m only teasing. You’ve gotta admit it’s still pretty funny though.” Dean chuckles to himself._

“You’re lucky you’re across the state or I’d be hitting you with my pillow right now.”

This only amuses Dean further and his warm chuckle gets a little louder through the phone. Cas joins in eventually, and the both of them end up laughing like idiots.

“Anyway…moving swiftly on to another subject, make sure you take care on the way home tomorrow.” Cas says when he’s calmed down. He’s glad Jimmy is in the other room so his son didn’t hear all that profanity. Thank _god_.

_“I will Cas, don’t worry. I’ll see you tomorrow. Love ya.”_

“Love you too. See you tomorrow.” He replies through a smile and they say one last goodbye before hanging up.

He goes to sleep soon after that, feeling more content after speaking to Dean and having a bit of a laugh with him.

 

* * *

 

**Tuesday**

In the morning, he wakes up at 5:30 for no reason. His alarm is set to wake him up at six so he has no idea why he’s randomly awake. With some contemplating, he supposes he may as well get up. He has a feeling if he goes back to sleep he’ll sleep through his alarm or something and not want to get up.

He drags himself out of bed and slips a on hoodie with a yawn, the chilliness of the room hitting him now he’s out from underneath the warm blankets on the bed.

Ruffling his hair, he decides to go check on Jimmy to see if he’s awake or not. Sometimes he is, sometimes he isn’t.

Cas pushes the door open and it looks like the boy is asleep, but when he gets closer he sees him move a little bit.

Frowning, Cas gets closer, moving around the side of the bed to see better and finds that Jimmy is actually awake. And crying quietly.

“Jimmy?” He crouches down swiftly, eyes searching his son’s face for an explanation. “Hey what’s wrong?” He asks gently but urgently, placing a hand on Jimmy’s cheek.

Cas sees that his son has spat his pacifier out so he picks it up to put it back in Jimmy’s mouth (thinking it’ll help with the crying), but the little boy turns his head further into the pillow to avoid it.

Cas takes in his white pasty skin, feeling his forehead which is now quite hot. _Much_ warmer than yesterday. Feverish even.

“You not feeling too good, hmm?”

Jimmy shakes his head, his tears still rolling down his cheeks before they are soaked up by his pillow.

Cas stands so he can sit down on the bed next to Jimmy, urging his boy to sit up.

“Daddy.” He cries as Cas put an arm around him.

“Where does it hurt?” He questions, confused when Jimmy starts trying to push him away. For a moment he thinks Jimmy is having one of those emotional fits but he realises what it really is soon enough.

His son turns his head away from Cas before hiccupping and throwing up on to the bed, all in one smooth motion.

At this, Cas’ full-on dad mode snaps into place and he positions himself behind the boy so he can hold on to his small right shoulder with one hand, and have his other arm circled around the boy’s waist to stop him jerking too far forwards. “Alright, alright. It’s okay, I’m right here. Let it out, baby.” He rubs Jimmy’s back for a good while as the little boy keeps getting sick over and over. “That’s it. That’s it. It’s okay. It’s alright.”

This has clearly been building up for a while so at least it won’t happen again for at least a couple hours maybe.

Cas waits it out, just concentrating on making the whole thing easier for Jimmy to cope with. He strokes the boy’s hair back from his forehead, sensing it’s nearly all over when the time between each wave of sickness keeps increasing.

Jimmy stays hunched over for a few minutes until he knows that he’s done, and the sight of the mess in front of him starts to upset him so Cas decides to start moving him away. Cas very carefully gets a clean corner of the bedsheet and wipes Jimmy’s mouth and his nose before gently turning him around so Cas can envelope him in a hug.

Jimmy is still crying softly but he isn’t anywhere near as panicked as he was before.

“All done?” He murmurs.

He gets a small nod for a reply.

“It’s all over now. It’s over. Don’t worry.” He secures Jimmy in his arms, trying not to jostle him and upset his already delicate stomach.

He carries Jimmy out of the room away from everything and takes him to his own room where he grabs the trashcan. He sits down on his bed with Jimmy tucked up close and puts the trashcan nearby.

“Just gonna sit quiet for a while, alright? The trashcan’s here if you need to be sick again.” He whispers, stroking the little boy’s hair soothingly. He carries on crying a bit but he eventually does seem to calm down enough until Cas is sure he isn’t going to vomit again. Well, not _imminently_ anyway.

“’m sorry.” Jimmy mumbles miserably, pushing his head into Cas’ chest.

“Hey, don’t worry about it. It happens, yeah?” Jimmy nods before sneezing. The jerk of the sneeze seems to bring back a bit of nausea in the boy again, but he settles down again after a few minutes.

“You’re really not well are you sweetheart.” Cas pouts, feeling so sorry for him. “I’ll stay home with you today so I can look after you.”

Jimmy seems to relax at that.

Cas _definitely_ can’t go to work and send Jimmy to day care after all of that. God no. Cas is going to call work and say he needs a short-notice personal day. Not before sorting Jimmy out though.

“You feel a little bit better after that, hmm?” He questions softly, keeping his voice low and gentle.

Jimmy nods again but Cas only knows that because he can feel it against his chest. He hopes this will be the last of the throwing up for the day but it’s wishful thinking. If Jimmy has caught a sickness bug, chances are there will be a round two at some point.

They sit there for another ten minutes until Jimmy starts getting restless and squirmy.

“Everything alright?”

Jimmy shifts around again before replying with “Need to go.”

“Oh, okay. Desperately?” Cas starts moving as he speaks.

“Uh huh.”

Cas nods and continues manoeuvring them so he can carry his boy to the family bathroom. It’ll be better than his en suite because it has more space, but Cas has to be quick if Jimmy needs to go bad. He has a pull up on but since he’s had the same one on all the night, it’s probably already wet. Cas needs to wake up a bit – he should have known that. It was just that he was thinking about everything else. Pull ups didn’t cross his mind.

“Here.” He sets Jimmy down on the floor and as he’s trying to get Jimmy’s pyjama bottoms off quickly, the boy starts crying more heavily and sobs “daddy” which makes Cas realise they’re too late. There’s already a puddle growing on the floor at Jimmy’s feet.

_Damnit Cas you piece of shit, why didn’t you just take him to the en suite?_

“No no no, don’t worry. It’s okay, it’s okay.” He moves around the puddle and pulls Jimmy close, letting the boy cry into his hoodie. _Stupid Cas. Stupid._

“It-it’s not.” The boy sniffles, bunching up Cas’ hoodie in his small hands.

“It is. And it’s my fault. It’s my fault.” He stroked Jimmy’s hair. “And even if it _wasn’t_ my fault, it’d all be okay. It’s just an accident. It’s alright.”

God, what a morning.

“How about a bath?” He pulls back and strokes a few stray strands of hair away from the boy’s head. “Then you’ll be all clean and comfy, how does that sound?”

Jimmy’s eyes brighten at the idea just a little.

“Alright, here. Let’s get you out of these.” He says after switching on the water to fill the bath. He makes sure the tap is set to lukewarm. Not too hot, not too cold, but cool enough to ease a temperature.

He helps Jimmy step out of his pyjama pants and his soaked pull up, followed by his shirt. They only have to wait a few minutes for the bath to fill, and soon Jimmy is sitting in the tub, pushing toys around with one finger lazily while Cas cleans up the puddle and sorts out Jimmy’s wet clothes.

When that’s done, Cas kneels down and shuffles over to the edge of the bath, watching as Jimmy pushes down a rubber duck until it’s completely submerged before letting go and watching it bounce to the surface again. At least the boy isn’t just sitting there doing nothing. That would have worried Cas more.

Jimmy also plays with a small plastic penguin which Cas’ mom got for him when she was over a few weeks ago. He loves the thing, and it keeps him distracted while Cas does he best to wash him with the cloth.

He’s just finished washing Jimmy’s hair when the boy starts to shiver in the water, so Cas lifts him out and wraps him in a fluffy towel.

“Tummy still feeling okay?”

Jimmy thinks about it for a moment before nodding. Cas is relieved. He wouldn’t say he’s squeamish per se, but does anyone actually like cleaning up puke? Because Cas knows it’s on his agenda, and he isn’t particularly looking forward to it.

He dries Jimmy off and hangs the towel on the rail.

“Will you be okay if I run to your room to get you some stuff to put on or do you want to come with?”

Jimmy considers it and lifts his arms up, eyes hopeful and asking to be lifted up.

Cas does just that, hoping it isn’t too cold outside the bathroom because he has a butt-naked three-year-old in his arms and he doesn’t want him to get shivery all over again.

However, when he opens the door, he’s thankful to find the heating has kicked in since they went into the bathroom, so it isn’t too cold after all. He makes quick work of collecting a clean set of fluffy pyjamas from Jimmy’s room because even though the boy wanted to come with him, he starts getting antsy about trying not to look at the bed.

Cas gets back to his room in quick time and lays Jimmy down on a towel on his own bed.

He powders and diapers his son, based on the fact that he has no idea how good Jimmy’s bathroom instincts are at the minute. It’s a good idea to be safe. As everyone knows, _better to be safe than sorry_.

Once he gets Jimmy into clean pyjamas and wrapped up in a blanket with his pacifier back in his mouth, Jimmy falls back to sleep.

Cas is very glad about that. It means that he’ll have some time to clean up and phone work.

 

* * *

 

“Well…yeah, Dean, I’m cleaning up sick as we speak.” Cas says as he collects up Jimmy’s bedding, the phone propped (not very securely) between his ear and his shoulder. He’s trying to clean up quickly because he’s left Jimmy asleep downstairs.

Dean had called him just as he got into Jimmy’s room so he decided to answer while he has some free time.

 _“Wait, what?”_ Dean’s voice sounds through the phone.

“Jimmy was sick. He really isn’t well.” He sighs sympathetically.

_“Aw poor little guy. You said last night you thought he was coming down with something. Is he with you?”_

“No, I left him sleeping downstairs so I need to be quick in case he wakes up.”

_“I’ll let you go, then-”_

“No, it’s okay. Y’know, your…presence is calming. Even if it’s on the phone.” He struggles impatiently with a piece of stubborn sheet that won’t loosen from the far side of the bed.

Dean chuckles. _“Cas, don’t get stressed out, alright babe? If anything, the worst of it’s over. He’s all sorted now, right?”_

“Yeah, you’re right. It’s all just gone quick is all.”

_“I’m sure. Do you feel okay though? You could catch it off him.”_

“I don’t want to jinx it, but thankfully yes, I feel fine. I _really_ hope I don’t catch it. I hate being sick with an absolute passion.” Cas says, and his phone nearly falls to the floor when the the corner of the stubborn bedsheet suddenly pops free from being curled underneath the mattress. He huffs, bunching the last of it up.

He might even need to throw these sheets away. It doesn’t matter if he does have to, but he’ll still wash them and see if they’re suitable to be kept.

 _“You good, Cas?”_ Dean asks in response to the scrabbling and shuffling on Cas’ end.

“Yeah, I just. Yeah, sorry, I nearly dropped the phone, I might have to go.” Cas knows he could just put Dean on speakerphone, but he’s feeling a little short tempered after the bedsheet debacle. And the tiredness from getting up so early is starting to catch up with him. He doesn’t want to accidentally snap at Dean or give away the fact that he _is_ suddenly feeling a bit stressed. He just needs a hot drink, really. And a quiet sit down.

_“It’s fine, Cas. And hey, I’ll still drop in on my way home by the way. I’m looking forward to seeing you.”_

Cas smiles. Dean’s eagerness to come home and see them allows some of his frustration with the bedclothes to recede. “I’ll see you later then.”

 _“Mmhm. See you later, Cas.”_ Dean’s voice is warm.

They hang up and Cas shoves his phone into his pocket before bunching up the rest of the bedding and taking it downstairs.

He peeks over the couch and sees that Jimmy is thankfully still out, looking comfortable under his blanket.

 

* * *

 

Once he’s sorted the washing, he goes to kitchen to get some water for the little boy for when he wakes up. He has a feeling Jimmy will be dehydrated. Cas puts some kids medicine in the water as well, so it is tinted pink slightly. Cas makes himself a mug of coffee too, looking forward to sitting down for a while.

Jimmy begins to stir by the time he’s sorted the drinks, so he wanders over and puts the drinks down on the coffee table then sits down next to Jimmy on the couch. The little boy sits up slowly and climbs over to him.

Cas opens his arms and collects the boy against his chest before draping the blanket over them both. He dips two fingers into Jimmy’s diaper to find it dry, which of course is weird because any time Jimmy’s asleep, it’s normally a guarantee that he will wet at some point. Sure, he’s just about starting to train in the daytime, but night time and being asleep is a _whole_ other ball game.

“How you feeling, hmm?” He strokes Jimmy’s hair slowly.

The boy just shrugs, sitting quietly and letting Cas comfort him.

“You want some water? We need to keep you nice and hydrated.”

Jimmy considers it for a while until he nods and Cas reaches over to the table to get the plastic cup. He positions it correctly to let his son drink what he wants, and by the time he’s finished, Cas is happy with the amount. Half a cup is okay for now.

“Daddy?” The little one’s small voice is quiet.

“Mmm?”

“Why do I not feel good?” He asks.

Cas strokes his hair away from his warm forehead. “Because your body is fighting off the nasty sickness.”

“Why?”

“So you can get well again. You feel bad for a while and then you get better because your body helps you.”

“When will I gets to feel better?”

“Not too long. You might feel better tomorrow after a good sleep.”

Jimmy nods, and they end up sitting together silently for half an hour, just chilling out after such a hectic morning. Cas manages to persuade Jimmy to drink to rest of the water too, and it doesn’t make him feel worse so he’s glad about that. The boy falls back to sleep pretty quickly after that so Cas hopes at some point he’ll use the diaper just so Cas knows he’s hydrated enough.

 

* * *

 

At around lunch time so earlier than expected, Cas hears Dean’s car outside while he’s preparing himself a quick sandwich. He’s left Jimmy watching the television, and he understandably doesn’t want anything to eat, but Cas has made him another medicine drink and put some crackers on a plate anyway.

Dean opens the door behind him. He turns around and smiles. “Hey.”

“Hey.” His boyfriend returns the smile, closes the door and approaches Cas to give him a kiss. Cas savours the feeling of Dean’s fingers running through his hair, even if it only lasts for a few seconds.

“You good?” Dean asks, dumping his bag on the table.

“Fine I guess. Just hungry.”

Dean nods. “He in there?” He tilts his head in the direction of the living room where the TV can be heard.

“Yeah. He’s not very talkative though.” He says and Dean nods again. “I’ll be there in a minute, just waiting for this water to boil.”

“Alright.” Dean smiles and goes into the living room to see Jimmy.

Cas makes himself and Dean coffee before managing to carry all of the plates to where they are sitting.

Dean has Jimmy in his lap and they’re talking a little. It’s nice to have Dean back even though he was gone for just a few days.

“You wen’ where?” Jimmy questions, eyes curious.

“A convention. Lots of people meet up at them to talk about one thing.” Dean replies.

“One thing?”

“Like business. They do it for cake as well. They do it for lots of things.”

“Bees?”

“I’m sure there’s a bee one, yeah.”

This earns a smile from Jimmy and he looks at the drink Cas has made for him.

“You want it?” Cas asks.

Jimmy nods so he passes the cup to Dean who helps the boy drink it without spilling.

“There’s some crackers here as well if you want to eat something.”

Jimmy nibbles at one while Cas and Dean talk about the convention. The boy seems to be perfectly happy listening to their conversation and sits quietly, comfortable in Dean’s lap.

Cas finishes one of the sandwich halves and offers the other half to Dean who accepts it gratefully.

Jimmy starts to fall asleep again after fifteen minutes of talking. Cas is just finishing his coffee when he sees his son go rigid with an alarmed look on his face.

He quickly puts his mug down on the coffee table and reaches for the trash can he’d put by the couch earlier, just in case. _Thank god_ he’d put it there.

Cas’ sudden reaction and movements draw Dean’s attention to the situation and Cas just about gets the trash can to Jimmy in time before he’s sick again.

He scoots closer so he can support Jimmy from the side before sharing a sympathetic look with Dean. His boyfriend holds the boy’s little hand as he vomits into the can.

“Alright. It’s alright.” He strokes Jimmy’s hair as he throws up, thankful that at least Jimmy has a bit of something in his stomach to get out.

They sit through it for a while until Jimmy’s finished. “All done, sweetheart?” Cas asks when he lifts his head a little. The boy nods as Cas gets a tissue to wipe Jimmy’s mouth and nose. “There.”

Jimmy’s eyes are full of tears, and his son climbs off Dean to come to him. Cas puts the trash can down as far as he can reach to sort in a little while. He wraps his arms all the way around Jimmy.

“Okay. Okay.” He cuddles him close and kisses the top of his head. “It’s over now.”

Jimmy sniffles, tears falling, so Cas stands up and gently paces around the room to calm him down. Jimmy doesn’t get sick often so Cas suspects it’s scared him, making him upset.

He’s trying to calm him down before he starts to cry fully, as that would only make things worse.

“Sshh, it’s okay. It’s over.” He whispers into the boy’s ear. He doesn’t need to check Jimmy’s diaper to know it has been used in more ways than one.

Dean stands up and takes the trash can. “I’ll clean this, you sort him out?” He says quietly, reaching up and stroking Jimmy’s hair for a few moments.

Cas gives a small smile and nods, watching as Dean returns the smile then leaves the room.

“Come on, let’s get you cleaned up.” He murmurs, thinking he’ll go to the upstairs bathroom where there’s more space.

He tries to walk and climb the stairs as gently as possible so he doesn’t jostle Jimmy too much.

Knowing he has extra supplies in the bathroom, he goes straight there and lays Jimmy down on top of the cabinet after retrieving a plastic mat thing to put underneath.

Once he’s collected everything he needs, he first pulled Jimmy’s pants down, but when he goes to undo the tabs on the diaper his son grabs his hands. “Daddy no.” He says with watery eyes and tears still rolling down his cheeks.

Cas had guessed Jimmy would get shy about it. He’d stopped going ‘number two’ (as they called it) in diapers for a long time – it was since he’d turned two and a half roughly. They’d found early on that Jimmy had much less control of his bladder, so that was all he needed his pull ups for at the minute.

Clearly, today was an exception.

“Hey, it’s no big deal. It’s just an accident, and you aren’t well at all.” He smiles reassuringly, moving his hands to stroke Jimmy’s hair.

“But…but it’s bad…tummy don’t feel good.”

“And it’s completely fine. You forget that I did this all the time when you were _very_ little. There’s nothing wrong with having an accident. Especially if your tummy isn’t feeling good. Yeah?”

Jimmy looks unsure for a while but eventually nods, letting Cas undo the tabs on the diaper.

 

* * *

 

When he’s cleaned Jimmy up and has him sorted out with another diaper, he carries him back downstairs to settle on the couch. Dean is there waiting for them when Cas sits down with the little boy clinging to him.

“Hey kiddo, you feeling any better?” Dean asks and Jimmy shrugs. Cas wraps the blanket around his small body and waits for him to fall asleep before talking to Dean.

“I feel sorry for him.” He admits, subconsciously running his fingers through Jimmy’s hair.

Dean hums. “Me too.”

“I’m really just praying I don’t catch whatever this is. It seems evil.”

Dean chuckles quietly. “If you do, I’ll be here.”

“And then you’ll get it as well.” Cas snorts.

Dean shrugs, smiling down at Jimmy’s sleeping form. “At least you have tomorrow off. You won’t have to worry about phoning work again.”

“Yeah. I just hope he feels better after a good night’s sleep.”

“When he was sick, did he…?”

“Yeah. Vomiting and diarrhoea together are a bitch. Just gonna put that out there.”

“Jeez, the kid’s really got it bad. Any idea where he got this thing from?”

Cas thinks for a moment. “Day care maybe? It’s that or when we took him to the park on Saturday. There were loads of other kids there.”

“Aw man.” Dean sighs sympathetically. “You want me to stay tonight and help?”

Cas smiled “sure, but if you want to go home and unpack your stuff, don’t feel obliged to stay.”

“Well…I could go home, sort my stuff out then come back for the night? I think I’ll do that.”

Cas embraces Dean with his free arm. “Are you sure? I don’t want you to get sick as well if I catch it.”

“I’m sure.” Dean kisses him on the temple then stands up and stretches. “I’ll be back in around an hour, maybe a bit longer. I’ll bring my work stuff for tomorrow.”

“Okay. See you later.” Cas smiles as Dean leans down to kiss him. He leans up to meet Dean’s lips.

“Bye.”

“Byeee.” Dean smiles one more time before leaving the house with his bag.

Cas realises he must look like he’s in a right state – blue Harvard hoodie, sweatpants, _totally_ messy hair. It’s his dishevelled _looking-after-a-sick-three-year-old_ look. He hasn’t really made an effort today but to be fair he doesn’t have to be anywhere but there for Jimmy.

Dean on the other hand looked great. He’d somehow managed to get all tanned at that convention. He looked good in his shirt and his jeans. Cas feels so lucky to have him in his life. He doesn’t even care that his thoughts are all soft and squishy and _chick flick_ as Dean would say. Before, Dean has said he hates squishy feelings but Cas knows deep down he has a designated soft spot for said feelings. _Cas knows it_.

He’s actually been trying to think of the right time to ask Dean to move in. Sure, it’s been what, four months-ish that they’ve been together? But everything had clicked exactly one month in. They function like a little family, they love each other, they’re closer than anything and have never ever fought about _anything_. Cas just knows it feels right. Dean basically lives at their place anyway. He’s usually at theirs every day, if not every other day. He stays at least three nights per week.

So yeah, how is he going to ask Dean? Ask him casually in a conversation? Take him on a date? Write it on a cake? Tell Jimmy and let Jimmy ask Dean? Surprise Dean by moving some of his possessions? No, that one’s weird. The others are okay-ish though. Hmm.

He sits scrolling through his phone for a while, googling ways to ask someone to move in. Nothing is particularly his cup of tea – throwing a party with a bunch of guests and food and decoration? Thank you no.

“Daddy?”

He switches his phone off and tilts his head to look at his son. “Yeah?” He hadn’t realised Jimmy had woken up.

“Where’s De?”

“He’s gone home to get his stuff and then he’s coming back to stay the night.”

Jimmy manages a smile which warms Cas’ heart a little. It’s cute.

“How you feeling?”

Jimmy thinks about it then replies with “not as bad but still gross.”

“Still gross, huh?” His mouth tugs into a smile. “Anything you feel like doing? TV, colouring, playing with some toys?”

“…can we just talk?”

Cas is a little surprised at the request but he’s more than happy to just talk. Sounds nice.

“Sure. We can talk about anything you want.” He says then moves around to spread across the entire couch with Jimmy on top of him. “This okay?”

“Yeah.”

“Anything you want to talk about in particular?”

“…I think I made a friend, daddy.”

A sudden burst of happiness spreads through Cas. “Really? Is this at day-care?”

“Yeah. His name’s Chrissie.”

“Hey, that’s amazing! Have you been hanging out with him at playtime?” Cas beams. He’s so happy for Jimmy. He assumes ‘Chrissie’ is short for Christopher.

“Yeah and he’s real awesme. He can draw really good fish!”

Cas chuckles at that. “I love how you admire his fish drawing skills. Have you two been friends for long?”

“…a week? He helped when I dropped the pencil box. He helped pick up them.”

“Aw he sounds like a really good friend. Y’know…you can always invite him over here to play if you want. You can spend the day together, how does that sound?”

“Really?”

“Yeah. He can come and I’ll make you some snacks and you can show him all your toys if you wanted to.”

“Does it have to be all day?” Jimmy questions, and Cas notices it as his shy side creeping in. Aw, there’s the little introvert side of him coming out.

“Course not. He could come over in the morning or the afternoon or something.”

“Can I ask him?”

“Tell you what, you ask Chrissie whether he wants to and I’ll speak to his parents at home time next time I pick you up.”

“Yay.” Jimmy says excitedly and it’s the happiest his boy has been all day.

Cas cards his fingers through his son’s hair. “I’m so proud of you, you know.”

“Why?”

“You made a friend! I think you’ll enjoy preschool so much more when you have someone to play with and talk to. You’ll have lots of fun. I know you will.”

He knows Jimmy is still smiling and he feels so happy to have had this conversation. This is his _first_ friend and this other boy sounds nice, so Jimmy should get on with him well.

 

* * *

 

Dean ends up being two and a half hours, and by then Jimmy is once again back to sleep and Cas is admittedly close behind. He’s pretty exhausted after the day they’ve had and is looking forward to getting into bed.

Dean had texted him saying he needed to sort some stuff in his apartment because he’d left some dirty dishes by the sink which smelt ‘rancid’ as he had written, to which Cas chuckled and texted that he shouldn’t worry about it – he can come back to theirs whenever he’s ready.

Cas decides to shift from his comfortable position on the couch which unfortunately stirs Jimmy awake as well. “Aw sorry. Maybe it’s a good thing you’re awake. Why don’t we get you ready for bed, and I’ll do the same and we can go to my bed and go to sleep, hmm?”

Jimmy nods sleepily so Cas pushes himself up and leaves a couple of lights on for Dean before ascending the stairs to the big bathroom.

“How does your tummy feel, Jimmy?” He asks when he sits the boy on the countertop next to the sink.

“Not as hurty.”

Cas nods. “Not as hurty. Good.” He smiles as he put some kids’ toothpaste onto Jimmy’s toothbrush. He helps him brush his teeth and changes him before Cas gets ready himself. Soon they’re climbing into Cas’ bed.

“I love you.” He whispers as he runs his fingers through the boy’s hair.

“Love you too.”

He makes sure to have the trash can next to the bed just in case Jimmy’s stomach decides it isn’t happy after all, but apart from that all is fine. He spoons the little boy to sleep then texts Dean that they’ve gone to bed. He feels guilty not staying up for Dean, but he’ll understand. He always does.

Cas falls asleep pretty fast after that, lulled to sleep by the pattering of rain on the roof of the house.

 

* * *

 

Dean slowly pushes the door to Cas’ bedroom open, seeing both of his boys tucked up under the covers asleep.

He smiles at the sight as it reminds him that he loves them both very much.

He’d gotten ready for bed downstairs because he didn’t want to disturb them, so when he finally walks into the bedroom, he feels glad to finally be back.

It’s been a long few days of putting up with the sales team, but he’s done it. It’s over now, thank heck. He’s managed to steal a bunch of new clients as well, which means he has tomorrow’s work cut out for him already. That’s fine though; he’ll get good commission for the extra sales.

Dean slips into bed on the right side and scoots close to Cas, curling around his boyfriend’s body so he can wrap an arm around his waist. Cas seems to subconsciously lean back into him which brings another smile out of him. _This is home,_ he thinks. _This is home._

 


	2. Chapter 2

**Wednesday**

Cas wakes when he feels a hand rubbing his back. He would have kept his eyes closed if he didn’t hear Dean say “Cas.”

When he slits his eyes open, he sees Dean crouching by the bed wearing his suit for work. He smiles gently. “Gotta head to work.” He says, moving his hand from Cas’ back to cup the side of his face – the side which isn’t pressed into his pillow.

“Mmkay.” He mumbles. Dean just smiles more and leans to kiss both him and Jimmy.

He whispers “see ya later babe” as he leaves.

Cas closes his eyes again and drifts back off to sleep, and he’s in-between snoozing and waking for a while until he remains awake. The clock on his bedside table says it’s around nine in the morning, which is pretty late for Cas really. And _very_ late for Jimmy to still be asleep, but he’s probably still mostly unwell. He has to admit, they had _both_ had a long day yesterday.

He waits around for a while and eventually decides that it will be best to wake Jimmy up so he’ll be able to sleep better later.

When the little boy opens his eyes, Cas can already see that he looks less dull and pasty, but he still didn’t look too good bless him.

“How you feeling?” He murmurs as his fingers run through Jimmy’s hair.

“Mmmm…not ‘s bad.” The boy mumbles, shifting around so he can snuggle up to Cas.

“At least you’re feeling a little better.” He says, circling his arm around his son.

Even though he feels like getting up, he feels guilty about waking Jimmy so he lets the boy have some extra time to cuddle.

What eventually causes Cas to start trying to move them out of bed is when he has the mind to check Jimmy’s diaper, discovering it’s wet.

He manages to get out of bed with Jimmy in one arm. The kid is clinging on to him like a limpet and is still very sleepy. He’s barely awake, really.

“Come on. You need a change.” He carries the boy to the bathroom and decides he’ll give Jimmy a bath.

“Do you need to go potty before you have your bath?” He questions, attempting to make eye contact. He catches Jimmy’s eye and the boy shakes his head. “Sure? Why don’t you try?”

“’kay.” Jimmy agrees and does as Cas suggested, finished with his business a moment later. “Done.” He points at the potty, still looking super sleepy.

“Well done, buddy. Good job.” He smiles softly and picks Jimmy back up. Jimmy doesn’t let go when Cas tries to lower him into the bath. “Feeling close today, hmm?”

Jimmy makes a small half-asleep noise of agreement.

Cas thinks about what he could do for a moment and does come up with one idea. He knows Jimmy won’t protest but he asks anyway. “Want me to come in with you?”

Jimmy’s grip on him tightens so he takes that as a yes and somehow strips himself down while still holding the little boy.

He lowers them down into the water slowly and, granted, it does feel nice. Cas can’t remember the last time he had a bath and everyone always says they’re relaxing, so, why not right?

He sighs at the feel of the warm water and holds Jimmy close. He makes sure his son’s head remains above water where it’s resting on Cas’ shoulder.

Cas runs his thumb up and down part of Jimmy’s back and when the boy doesn’t move, Cas checks to see if he’s okay and realizes his boy has fallen back to sleep.

Cas is actually quite glad he’s chosen to get into the bath with Jimmy. If Jimmy is tired enough to fall asleep here with the bright lights of the bathroom shining down on them, Cas wants to be there to keep him as close and safe as possible. This also means he can make sure Jimmy is okay sleeping around of all the water.

As everyone knows, basic parent 101 is to _not_ leave young children unsupervised around water. It’s just asking for something bad to happen. Of course, Cas knows Jimmy is sensible when awake, but he just doesn’t want Jimmy to fall asleep while Cas turns his back or something and breathe in a load of water.

Cas removes the thoughts from his head. That isn’t going to happen.

It does however get him thinking about his parenting skills. Sure, he has his doubts about how good of a dad he is, but people saying things to him never help. Such things include telling him he isn’t firm enough with Jimmy. Cas is aware he never really has to literally tell Jimmy off, and the ‘naughty step’ doesn’t really exist in their house. Jimmy just _never does anything wrong_.

Sure, he makes mistakes sometimes and had accidents like spilling his drink or something, but nothing particularly _naughty_. Jimmy is sweet as honey most of the time; never kicks up a fuss, never asks for anything unreasonable. He’s a good kid.

Cas knows it’s unusual for a three-year-old to be so golden good, but Jimmy’s just different. He knows Jimmy is happy, and naughty or not, that’s the main thing.

Although, people do still get Cas down. Someone else has said he doesn’t know how to say no to Jimmy but, again, surely that isn’t true? If Jimmy asks for something, Cas will get it if it’s within reason. It’s only on occasion that Jimmy will ask for things anyway.

And Jimmy just likes being close to Cas, just a bit more than other kids would be to their own parents at that age. Jimmy has a genuine separation issue which causes him to get upset sometimes, so it isn’t anything for other people to frown upon. He is just being there for his son when needed, and it really pisses him off when people feel the need to voice their negative opinions.

Even at the daycare, he’d heard two moms talking behind his back about what happened when Jimmy had that breakdown a couple of weeks ago. They had been saying how Cas _‘shouldn’t let his kid get so wound up’._ He had been _so_ tempted to turn around and say something to them at the time (he _had_ said under his breath _‘pretentious bitches’_ which made him feel a little better) because, what, is he supposed to ignore the things Jimmy struggles with? The little boy can’t help how he feels, and Cas has adapted to working around it.

Cas wouldn’t change a single thing about Jimmy. He loves him just the way he is. Always will.

So yeah, Cas _hates_ it when other people judge his parenting because after all, even if someone is doing something a little bit wrong, aren’t all parents just trying their best? He certainly is. He just doesn’t have to punish his son.

Jimmy does have his moments sometimes where he’ll have a little tantrum over something, but it never lasts long and Cas understands he’s dealing with some of his emotional issues that he’s been diagnosed with.

In fact, Cas has started to recognize the signs of mood swings and mini fits, so he’s always getting better at parenting his own little angel. Cheesy but true. Sue him.

Cas surfaces from his thoughts when Jimmy shifts in his sleep. He looks down at the little boy, sleeping so soundly. He looks so peaceful and it relaxes something inside Cas because…they’re doing just fine. He is happy, Jimmy is happy. They have happy lives and they have Dean, who is also more than happy.

At that, Cas decides he doesn’t care what anyone else thinks. The only people they need to make sure are happy, are themselves. Not people who are too judgmental for their own good.

 

* * *

 

After the bath and getting dressed, Cas carries Jimmy downstairs to get some breakfast. “Woken up a bit now?” Cas smiles when Jimmy straightens up in his arms to look around. The boy nods.

“…I’m hungry a bit.” He says. Cas feels _so_ glad. That’s a good sign!

“You must be feeling a bit better then. That’s good.”

“Yeah.” Jimmy replies, hugging his blanket to his chest. He wraps his arms around Cas’ neck tight. “I like how you been home.”

Cas smiles “me too. Even though you were ill.”

Jimmy giggles a little bit. “Thanks. F’ takin’ care of me.”

Cas puts his other arm around Jimmy and hugs his son tight. “You don’t have to thank me. I’d look after you if you were sick every day.”

“ _Every_ day?!” Jimmy gasps, smiling.

“Yeah!” Cas chuckles. “But you’re not going to be ill every day, so you can go back to playing and running around the house like a headless chicken.”

“Yay.” Jimmy giggles again, resting back down against Cas’ chest.

“Does your tummy still feel off.” Cas wonders. He runs his fingers through the hairs on the back of Jimmy’s head.

“A little. Not much. Jus’ feel tired.”

“Not too bad then. Do you fancy coming to the garden store with me later to get some fresh air?”

Jimmy thinks about it for a few moments before nodding. “Aren’t all the plants dead ou’side?”

Cas sits the boy on the kitchen table. “Some don’t survive the winter because of the cold. But other plants like trees lose their leaves and then the leaves come back in the spring. Wanna learn a cool word?”

Jimmy nods his head enthusiastically. “Yes.”

“So, you know when all of the leaves drop off the tree?” Jimmy nods. “It means it’s a ‘deciduous’ plant.”

“’ecudous.” Jimmy says then frowns. “What was it ‘gain daddy?”

Cas smiles. “Deciduous.”

“’eciduous.”

“That’s it, yeah!”

“So…it-it means that a plant loses the leafs?”

“Yeah. Exactly.” Cas beams. “Man, you’re so clever.”

Jimmy smiles under the praise, sniffing. Cas notices he has a runny nose so he pulls a clean tissue out of his pocket and holds it to the boy’s nose. 

“Blow.” Cas instructs, so Jimmy does and soon the tissue is disposed of. “There we go.” Cas smiles and Jimmy returns it, nodding and swinging his legs on the table.

“What do you feel like eating?”

“…don’ know daddy.”

“Maybe something plain like toast. Sound good?”

Jimmy nods and Cas pulls Jimmy’s blanket higher as it is getting close to touching the floor. “Where’s De?”

“He’s at work. He has some more people who want to buy paper from him.” Cas explains.

“From the ‘vention?” Jimmy asks and Cas is surprised the boy has remembered.

“Yeah, that’s right! Wow you’re _on it_ today aren’t you.”

Jimmy giggles and Cas is relieved to find that he seems to be feeling much better than he had expected. That morning, he had thought Jimmy was going to feel tired and off all day but the little boy appears to be feeling so much more like himself.

Cas prepares the toast, deciding he’ll have some too. You can’t go wrong with toast, it’s always nice. Nice, simple, and freaking amazing with _jam_.

When it is done, Cas takes Jimmy to the living room with the food and they sit on the couch together.

Jimmy eats half a piece and starts to play with the other half. Cas has already finished his food and notices the boy’s hesitance. “Don’t eat it if you don’t want it, it’s okay. We can put it out for the birds.”

“We’ll do that.” Jimmy agrees, putting the cooked bread down on the plate. Cas takes the plate and puts it on the coffee table to sort out later.

“Y’know, I was thinking we could buy one of those wooden bird tables at the garden store later. Then we can buy some bird seed and leave it out so they don’t get hungry.”

“I wanna do that, can we do that?” Jimmy pleads. Cas is pleased to know Jimmy approves of his idea.

“Oh we’re totally doing that.” He smiles brightly. Jimmy smiles with his eyes and they sit looking out of the window at the garden for a while. Cas feels Jimmy go limp asleep after around ten minutes.

The boy seems to be a lot happier and talkative but anyone would know that Jimmy might have had just an hour where he feels better. That might go downhill after having a sleep.

Cas decides he’ll stay with him while he sleeps on the couch this time. If he’s honest with himself, there’s something telling him he isn’t feeling wonderful either. He prays to god that he hasn’t caught what Jimmy has – denying it to himself, even - but he knows deep down that that is exactly what is wrong with him. Tomorrow is going to be fun if he’s right.

He slowly sinks down flat on the couch with Jimmy on him, and he drapes the boy’s blanket over his small body before lying there, falling asleep pretty quick.

 

* * *

 

Cas wakes up needing the bathroom. Well, that’s the first thing he thinks when he starts to come to after being asleep for an unknown amount of time.

He forces his eyes open and lifts a stiff arm to look at his watch.

Eleven thirty. Great.

He closes his eyes and tries to relax for a little longer but his bladder twinges at him.

 _Ugh_. He supposes he needs to get up anyway.

Cas starts to push himself up and Jimmy stirs at that, opening his eyes to look at Cas in question.

“I need to get up, sweetheart.”

“Noooooo.” They boy whines. “Warm.”

“Jimmy, daddy needs the bathroom.” Cas reasons, shifting around a little.

Jimmy whines again but slowly rolls off him so Cas can get up.

“Back in a moment.” He says then leaves the living room and walks down the hall to the bathroom. He wanders inside, the sleepy feeling still clinging to him a little.

At this, he yawns and pushes the door to, and of course, just like last time it happened, when he’s half way through peeing – _half way through_ – he hears Jimmy walk in and stand near him.

“Why do you stand up?” The boy questions, watching Cas with unreasonable scrutiny.

Cas sighs “I’ll answer your question in a second Jimmy, but you shouldn’t walk in like that, okay? I don’t mind, but it’s polite to knock alright?”

Jimmy looks down at his feet and nods as Cas zips up.

When he’s washed his hands, he puts a hand on top of the boy’s head gently, guiding him out of the bathroom.

“Sorry.”

“It’s okay. Just remember to knock next time, okay?” He smiles, sitting down on the stairs at the bottom of the staircase. He pulls Jimmy to stand in front of him so he can make eye contact. “Right, to answer your question, I stand up because it’s easier.”

“Why?”

“It’s easier because I don’t have to take my pants off.”

“…why?”

“Men stand up to pee, basically.” He says, deciding to just be blunt about it.

“Then…why do I sit?” Jimmy raises an eyebrow.

“Because you’re little and you don’t have to worry about that yet.” He says, and Jimmy nods in understanding.

There are a few moments of silence between them before Cas reaches to tickle Jimmy’s side. The boy squeals and squirms away but Cas gets a good hold on him, and tickles under his arms.

“Dada stooop.” The boy laughs and laughs until Cas eventually does stop, chuckling away at the little boy.

He pulls Jimmy close to hug him, saying “it’s okay, I won’t tickle anymore” in reassurance. Jimmy hugs him back as tight as he can.

“Love you daddy.”

“Love you too.” Cas moves back as a smile spreads across his face.

“I’m wet now.” Jimmy pouts.

“Was that because of me?” Cas chuckles. Jimmy scrunches his face, trying to be all grumpy, giving a curt nod. Cas thinks it’s cute.

“It was me wasn’t it. My tickle attack did that, didn’t it? Sorry.” Cas chuckles more, while Jimmy giggles at him for being guilty but laughing about it.

He stands up and lifts Jimmy into his arms. “When I’ve got you clean shall we head out and get that bird table? Make the birds happy?”

“Yeah.” Jimmy agrees, resting his head on Cas’ shoulder.

Jimmy still seems to be doing good. Maybe he really is well on his way to feeling better. Cas is super glad about it. He hates seeing his boy feeling so bad. Luckily it’s all on its way up – maybe they’ll both be back to normal routine tomorrow. _Maybe_.

_Hopefully._

 

* * *

 

Wandering around the garden store is quite nice. It feels good to be able to stretch his legs rather than just walking around the around the house. Jimmy is walking as well – holding Cas’ hand – so he doesn’t have to carry him at the minute.

Jimmy has admittedly gone a little quieter a while after arriving, and Cas knows as much as he was talking and had been laughing that morning, he probably still isn’t feeling well. He’s been very tired today so if Cas suspects the boy is starting to get antsy at any point, they’ll go home and he’ll put him down for a nap.

The only problem Cas has is that he needs to leave his car at the shop to get the bolts on his wheels tightened. Dean had offered to do it but it needed doing and he was away at the convention when Cas noticed the problem so he booked in at the shop to get it fixed. They’re going there after the garden store and the plan is to leave the bird stuff in the trunk of the car and get the bus home from the shop.

Thankfully there aren’t too many people where they are so Jimmy isn’t too stressed out.

“What do you think, hmm? Which one should we get?” He lifts Jimmy up so the boy can see what bird seed there is.

“What’re those?” His son questions, gesturing to a big yellow bag.

“Sunflower hearts.”

“Sunflowerses have hearts?”

Cas smiles. _Sunflowerses. Oh my god. How is he able to be so cute?_ “No, it just means seeds, really. Sunflower seeds.”

“I don’ want them.” Jimmy shakes his head before pointing at another type of seed. “Them?”

“Mixed seed? Yeah, we can get that one.”

Jimmy reaches to get one and pulls it off the shelf. Cas helps him and they put it in the basket Cas is somehow holding as well.

“Why don’t we get some of those as well?” Cas points to another packet. “Do you know what that says?”

Jimmy squints, his brows pulling together in a little frown, trying to figure out the word. “P…pen…pea-pean-nut-peanut!” He chirps excitedly.

“Well done! That’s right.” He beams, grabbing the peanuts to put in the basket.

The boy smiles giddily at his achievement and wriggles to be put down, so Cas lowers him to the ground.

Jimmy lifts his left hand to his mouth, sucking his thumb so Cas takes Jimmy’s other hand as they walk to the wooden bird tables the seed would be going on. They’re all flat packed so Cas is thankful he won’t have to try too hard to fit it in his car.

They look around at all of them for a while before they agree on one with a little sloped roof, and they even decide exactly where they are going to put it in the garden.

“Hungry, daddy.” Jimmy looks up at him as they are heading to the checkout to pay.

Cas nods “okay, uh, why don’t we get something to eat in the café? They do nice sandwiches in here if I can remember right.”

“Yeah.”

When they reach the till, there is a man in front of them but apart from that no one else is around. Cas guesses it’s because it was a weekday – people are generally at work.

The man in front of them catches his attention when he hears him utter _‘stupid’_ under his breath _,_ and Cas only just realises he’s giving the cashier some grief over something. He listens in, not caring if he’s being just a tad nosy.

“It says right here on this plant that it’s $2.99.” He grumbles abrasively to the girl.

“That price tag isn’t right – the plant prices have gone up since then and it’s signposted clearly above the table where they are. I’m sorry, but I can’t sell it for $2.99.”

Cas knows what they’re talking about – he’d seen those plants earlier. They’re potted flowers and they’ve been gift wrapped nicely. There were only three left when Cas looked at them (one blue one, one pink and one red). This man seems to have selected the red one. Weird thing is though, is that when Cas looked at them, they all had the exact same price tags on, each one saying _$4.99, $4.99, $4.99_.

“Why would anyone stick the wrong price on this plant? This is stupid.” The man grumbles. “ _This_ sticker says _this_ plant is $2.99.”

Cas hears Jimmy unzipping the side pocket of the diaper bag which is resting on Castiel’s shoulder, and he guesses that Jimmy is pulling his pacifier out. With Jimmy sucking his thumb, Cas simply assumes he wants the pacifier instead.

Cas returns his attention to the price tag situation, studying the man who happens to have one hand behind his back. He has something white bunched up in his fingers.

“I hope you don’t mind my asking, but may I ask what you have in your hand there?” Cas pipes up innocently. The man turns around with a dagger of a gaze. Cas doesn’t feel threatened necessarily, but he grips Jimmy’s hand just a little tighter.

“Nothing. Just an old receipt.”

“Or the $4.99 price tag which you ripped off that plant to try and get it for $2.99. Did you stick the $2.99 price tag on yourself? How honourable.” Cas says sarcastically and the man pales ever so slightly before he drops the plant down on the counter and storms off, calling Cas and the cashier ‘stupid’ again.

Cas sees the cashier roll her eyes as he moves towards the checkout, putting their stuff on the counter, smiling at the girl. “Some people, right?”

She gives an amused huff. “There’s always one.”

 “I understand. I used to work in my brother’s bakery. The people in there….god, some of the regulars were awful. _‘What do you mean you have no more cinnamon rolls?!’_ ” His impression makes both the girl – ‘Jay’ as her green nametag informs – and Jimmy laugh. “But yeah, they really ruin your mood. It’s crap.”

“I finish this week anyway sooo yeah, don’t have to put up with people like him much longer.”

“That’s good then. It-” Cas cuts himself off when he sees Jimmy slide something onto the counter, and realises it’s a small chocolate rabbit wrapped in gold foil. Jimmy’s looking up at him innocently. “When did you pick that up, mister?” He rolls his eyes fondly when Jimmy gives a slightly cheeky, sheepish look.

Next, Cas sees Jimmy’s arm emerge above the counter, and it turns out he’s offering one of his bee stickers to her. That’s what Jimmy must have retrieved from the side pocket. Cas keeps them safe in that pocket for whenever they go out since Jimmy likes to wear one when they go anywhere.

Jay smiles. “Aw thank you. I’ll wear it with pride, yeah?”

Jimmy gives her a big smile and goes a little shy, but replies anyway. “Yes, like me.”

Cas chuckles and lets Jay scan the rabbit. “I have some more of these back here if you want one…?” She gestures behind her.

Cas looks to Jimmy for his opinion. “Shall we get one for Dean?” The boy nods. “We’ll take another three.”

“Three?” Jimmy gasps.

Cas smiles at him and once all of their stuff has gone through, he lifts Jimmy up into his arms, handing him one of the rabbits. He nods his head towards Jay and Jimmy doesn’t get the message. “Give one to the nice girl?” He whispers into Jimmy’s ear.

Jimmy suddenly understands and holds the bunny out to her.

Cas feels bad for her with crappy customers, so he thought he’d follow Jimmy’s footsteps of making her feel better.

“You two made my day, you know that, right?” She laughs, accepting the rabbit. “Thank you.”

Cas smiles and shrugs. “Golden rabbits and bee stickers can go a long way.”

The girl’s smile widens. “They sure do. Enjoy the rest of your day.”

“You too!” Jimmy bounces in Cas’ arms.

They say bye to Jay and soon they’re sitting in the café eating some, as promised, really nice sandwiches.

===

After making a quick bathroom trip and changing Jimmy, Cas leads them outside to the car. He makes sure Jimmy is stood close in front of him so he doesn’t run out into the parking lot or anything while Cas puts their stuff in the trunk.

“Do we _have_ to?” Jimmy whines, pouting.

“It’s only a ten minute ride. I’ll be there with you the whole time, alright?” Cas tries to make him feel better. Jimmy isn’t happy about getting the bus from the car place but it really is the cheapest way and Cas doesn’t really want to wait around for a taxi which may or may not turn up if he called for one.

“…okay.”

He closes the trunk and picks Jimmy up, making eye contact. “I promise it’ll go quick and we’ll be home before you know it.”

Jimmy leans forwards to circle his arms around Cas’ neck. Cas decides he’ll try to soothe Jimmy to sleep while they’re waiting for the bus later. That way maybe Jimmy will sleep through it. It might not even be busy anyway, which would be amazing since it’s just the people that his boy feels uncomfortable around.

But for now, they have one more car ride to the car shop.

 

* * *

 

Jimmy is asleep. He’d fallen asleep during the drive and stayed asleep while Cas handed over his keys and spoke to the guy who is going to work on his car. He’s managed to walk to the bus stop and is hoping Jimmy will stay asleep, but when the bus arrives and pulls up to the kerb, his eyes slit open.

There are quite a few people on there, and Cas wonders whether it’s a good idea after all, but they’re here now. May as well get on with it.

“Daddy…” Jimmy whines in a last attempt for Cas to change his plans. He feels guilty but it really is only ten minutes.

“It’s okay. Remember – ten minutes.” He says and Jimmy clings to him with an iron grip when he steps on to the bus. Cas manages to pay for his journey before finding a seat half way down the vehicle.

Jimmy stays very quiet, remaining glued to him with his head pressed very close to Cas’ chest. “I know you don’t like it. It’ll be alright. Over soon.”

He makes sure he has the boy secure in his arms to make Jimmy feel safer. His son pushes his head against him and scrunches his eyes up tight when the bus sets off. He bunches Cas’ jacket up in little fists.

At five minutes, typically a police car turns its sirens on behind the bus, trying to get past. The loud noise makes Jimmy flinch so Cas strokes his hair. “It’s okay. It’s okay.”

Cas doesn’t actually know why Jimmy doesn’t like being around too many strangers. Like, is he scared? Intimidated? Anxious? Shy? Cas has no idea. He’ll have to ask Jimmy sometime.

The next five minutes pass relatively quickly and soon he’s stepping off the bus down the street from their house.

He feels the tension leave Jimmy slowly. “There you go. It’s all over now.”

Jimmy stays quiet but nods, releasing his tight grip on Cas’ left hand which he had started holding when Cas got up to get off the bus.

“You did good. That was brave, yeah?”

Jimmy nods again and soon they’re finally home.

He puts Jimmy down on the floor, helping him get his shoes off before letting him go further inside the house, presumably to the living room.

Cas toes his own shoes off and hangs his jacket up. He dumps the diaper bag on the kitchen table and gets the chocolate bunnies from the side pocket. He takes them into the living room and puts them down on the coffee table.

Jimmy has already dragged his comfy pants off the top of couch, and is in the process of attempting to take his current pants off.

Cas smiles. Cute.

“Here, let me help.” He kneels down to help, checking Jimmy’s pull up. “Let’s get you into dry pull up then these comfy pants and then we can sit on the couch and eat chocolate, yeah?”

“Okay.” Jimmy gives a small smile, his voice enthusiastic, perking up a bit at the proposal.

After doing such things, they get comfortable on the couch and Cas throws a blanket over them. Jimmy crawls over to sit in his lap and Cas hugs him close as they watch the TV. Cas will do the paperwork later after relaxing for a while.

He doesn’t feel that hungry, so only Jimmy eats his chocolate but the little boy seems to thoroughly enjoy it all the same. The kid falls asleep with it all round his mouth.

Cas smiles and takes a selfie of himself (with a very amused look) and Jimmy fast asleep with his treat all round his mouth. He sends the picture to Dean, soon receiving a reply.

**_Dean: my boys <3_ **

Something fluffy fills Cas right up. There’s something about Dean’s text that makes him feel like he’s never been so in love. He needs to ask Dean to move in _soon_ – he loves him so goddamn much.

In the process of thinking, he feels his stomach do a weird turn. A rush of complete and utter dread floods through Cas and he swallows nervously. No. _No_. He can’t be…he can’t have…. _just no_.

It better not be…no… _oh no_.

 _It’s just a stomach ache._ He thinks to himself. _It’s just one of your stupid stomach aches. Stop panicking_.

As much denial as Castiel finds himself in, he is unable to block his fearful thoughts.

_At some point. I’m going to be sick._

_I’m going to be sick._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Originally, Cas wasn't actually supposed to be scared of getting sick himself, but the extra piece of plot just kind of wormed its way in and I thought why not. Oh well haha.
> 
> Hope you enjoyed this chapter. Next one will be up soon :D


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is a little more graphic, so if you're squeamish, I'd skip the part where Cas is sick (you'll know when).
> 
> Apart from that, enjoy the plot, fluff, care and humour!

**Thursday**

Cas sighs quietly, peering over his desk at everyone in the office. He can’t seem to concentrate and he can’t stop digging his fingernails into the palms of his hands. His nails aren’t even long – he keeps them short, so unfortunately, they don’t distract him from anything really.

He fidgets in his chair, taking a deep breath in an attempt to calm himself. He feels all warm and it feels like there are feathers in his head. _Too many feathers_ in his head. It feels horrible.

He feels really nauseous and he wants to be anywhere but here at work. What he wouldn’t do to be at home right now. He can’t even drive home – his car’s still at the shop so this morning he’d walked Jimmy to daycare and got the bus alone to the office. He feels absolutely _awful._

His eyes land on Dean who is deeply concentrated on his work. He wants to tell him he isn’t feeling well, but (a) he doesn’t want to disturb Dean because he’s really focused, and (b) he’ll hate the attention he’ll no doubt get off everyone else.

Cas thought he was going to be sick when he’d woken up that morning but he’d had a glass of water and it made him feel a little better, so he came in.

Cas had had high hopes for the day but that idea seems to be going downhill. He and Dean have arranged to go out on a date that night and he doesn’t think he’ll be able to manage it. He was going to ask Dean the moving in question, but this damn illness is going to ruin his chance this time around.

Jimmy is supposed to be hanging out with Missouri tonight as well. She’s due to pick him up from daycare and spend the night with him until Cas and Dean get back from their date. Looks like that’s down the drain too.

He sips at his water, flinching when his desk phone rings. He picks it up gingerly, praying to god it isn’t someone he’ll have to talk to for long.

_“Hi, I’m Mrs. Parhim. I need to speak to your manager please.”_

“Okay. Putting you through.” He taps in his boss’ transfer code then puts the phone down.

Cas panics when his stomach twists and a quiet, wet burp is forced from his mouth. He has to swallow to stop the water he just drank from coming all the way up. His fingers tighten on the edge of the desk, each one turning white at the sheer force of his grip. He’s scared that if he tries to move, he’s going to be sick in front of everybody.

Another flood of panic washes over him at the thought of that happening, and he has to scrunch his eyes to concentrate on keeping himself together until the feeling passes. Because it _has_ to pass. _It has to_. He thinks in fear, feeling the nerves creeping through his body. They’re not helping anything at all either.

A few short breaths leave him and he hugs his arms around his waist, thankful that his desk mostly shields him from people who would otherwise be able to look at him. _Why did I come to work. Why did I come to work. I want to be alone. Get me out of here_. He could actually cry. He feels super childish, but he could actually cry. He’s genuinely scared. He wants to go home more than anything in the world, but he _can’t_.

_Keep it together. Keep it together. Keep it together._

Castiel can feel the heat of his skin radiating through his clothes, but he can’t really move without making his stomach jolt and twist. And besides, he’s already taken his suit jacket and his sweater off. _And_ he’s loosened his tie. None of it helped.

His entire abdomen feels so _heavy_ as if he can _feel it_. _Feel_ just how sick he’s going to be if he doesn’t do something about it. Although, by now, he’s discovered he can’t think it away. It going to happen. _It’s going to happen._

After another few minutes of feeling sorry for himself and gritting his teeth in a desperate attempt to wish the sickness away, one of the people from accounting makes him jump when he speaks loudly in front of him at the edge of the desk. Cas has to swallow several times to keep himself from losing it.

“Why are you so pale today? Wait…I got a joke: are you the _ghost of Cassmas past_?” His coworker giggles and takes a bite of the bacon sandwich he’s eating.

The mere smell of the sandwich makes Cas want to cut his own goddamn nose off. He really _does not_ want to smell food right now.

He sighs quietly. “Very funny. Thanks for that.” He somehow forces out, managing not to display the absolute turmoil he is in. He gives a thumbs up which his colleague returns before wandering off.

As much as that encounter did _nothing_ to make Cas feel better, he’s silently thankful for it because it seems to have attracted dean’s attention.

He swallows, taking another few shallow breaths. He’s shaking. He’s going to be sick.

_I don’t want to be sick, I don’t want to._

Cas assumes his boyfriend sees him scrunch his eyes up again because Dean appears at his desk a mere moment later.

Cas avoids eye contact. He’s shaking much more now and he doesn’t think he can look into Dean’s eyes without begging him to do something to help. _Please. Help. I don’t know what to do. I don’t know why I’m scared. Help._

_How childish_.

“He’s right - you’re a sheet. You feelin’ alright?” Dean frowns in concern, looking Cas up and down to see he _really is not looking good at all_. Cas shifts where he’s sitting. He’s really tense and is getting dangerously close to running to the bathroom in a hope that he’ll make it.

He shakes his head feebly – _wow_ , Cas – and takes in a single shallow breath.

Dean circles around the high-up desk to put an arm across Cas’ shoulders. “Talk to me babe.” He says softly.

All of a sudden, Cas wishes he told Dean. He wishes he told Dean that being sick himself scares him. He _wishes_ he said something. Why didn’t he tell Dean?

Cas closes his eyes and swallows thickly. _Please_. _Please let me be okay_.

A moment later, he feels his stomach twist and that’s it, he can’t stay here any longer. He shoves past Dean in a panic and quickly makes his way to the bathroom, dashing across through the office with a hand pressed firmly against his mouth.

He flings the bathroom door open and stumbles into the cubicle nearest from the door, falling to his knees.

At this moment, he is indescribably thankful that he is so close to a toilet, not caring one bit that his head is so close to it. Thankfully it seems like the cleaners cleaned them last night, and no one has used this one yet today.

“Cas?” Dean’s worried voice travels into the bathroom when his boyfriend pulls the door open. He hears the door close and the lock click before footsteps stop behind him. “Oh man.” Dean sighs.

A moment later, Cas feels Dean’s presence to his back left. He feels a hand get placed on his back.

He can’t help the tears that start to slip down his face. “Dean I don’t wanna be sick. I-I don’t want to.” He scrunches his eyes, feeling his stomach twisting. His belly feels so _heavy_.

_Oh god oh god oh god_.

“Wait, you’re not holding back are you Cas? That’s not good for you.” Dean rubs his back, suddenly becoming more worried than calm. He’s starting to see that Cas is having a minor anxiety attack.

_I’m a goddamn stupid idiot._

“I- I don’t wanna be sick…I don’t want to! _Dean_ …” He feels his panic starting to rise and he pants shallow and fast. He _hates_ throwing up more than anything in the world. “ _Why_ did I come in.” He cries his words out.

_Scared_.

Dean seems to sense the rising of panic and drapes his arm across Cas’ shoulders. “You’ll feel better when it’s over. It’s okay. It’s all okay.”

Cas shakes his head, keeping his mouth sealed shut tight, only moving so he can say “you…d-don’t want t-to…see this.”

Dean sighs fondly. “You’re forgetting I used to work at the movies. Too many people eating too much popcorn equals my immunity to squeamishness.”

“Not…h-helping.” He decides, gagging now. “ _Dean…I’m scared, Dean…”_ He sniffles in fear. He hates this. He _hates_ it.

“Sorry.” Dean kisses his shoulder, rubbing his back. “C’mon Cas, just let it out. It’s alright. You’re just going to be sitting here until it happens anyway. And I’m right here. I’m right here.”

Cas tries to ignore the panic bubbling inside him, attempting to think about Dean and only Dean.

He feels his stomach tightening and tightening and aching. Despite Dean’s encouragement, he keeps swallowing, his throat clenching in defiance due to the increasing need to force his stomach contents up. He feels the warmth inside him rising all the way to the back of his throat. It stings.

A new flood of tears spill down his face and Dean scoots closer, his hand in Cas’ hair, stroking slowly. “Don’t worry, babe. I’m right here. I’m right here. Just let it out. It’ll all be okay. Everything will be fine. I promise.” Dean murmurs and it goes all the way through Cas, past his panic and his fear.

The very slight relax in his stomach seems to do it and Cas feels everything get forced the rest of the way up his throat with a horrifying gurgle. It surges out of his mouth with a jolt and he _can’t breathe._ The tears continue slipping down his face as he buries his head into the toilet bowl, the noise of it all ringing in his ears over and over. He’s still panicking, shifting and fidgeting but there’s only so much he can do while he’s being sick, nothing having been digested since last night.

There mere sight of it upsets him much more than it should, but it _does._ Seeing it makes it all feel worse somehow, so he shuts his eyes tight and tries to get it over. That’s the next step, right?

Dean’s comforting grip on him helps ground him as he’s sick; wave after wave of it coming up and up and up.

After a while, it seems to taper off, making Cas hopeful that it’s done, but he knows deep down it isn’t. He can still feel the telltale weight in his stomach, and his abdomen still hurts and aches. He isn’t done.

While he has a few moments to breathe, futile whimpers leave his mouth while remnants of foul liquid drip from his lips. _Oh god. Oh god. Why won’t it stop. Why did I have to catch this?_

He clutches his stomach, sweating completely all over, hating that he has to stare inside the toilet at everything he just brought up, not knowing when the second half will make an appearance.

Cas really can’t help but cry. He doesn’t cry often. Most people he knows have _never_ seen him cry. It’s just that _this_ is what his weak spot is, and _everyone_ has a weak spot somewhere. _This_ is what scares _him_ , as unnecessary as the fear is (because _yes,_ he knows there’s no reason why he should be scared, but _he just is_. And he can’t help it).

Dean runs his hand up and down his back, his other hand still in Cas’ hair, stroking it over and over. “It’s okay. It’s okay. You’re okay. I’m right here.” Dean’s comforting allows some of his worries to seep away, but he doesn’t have long to appreciate it before his stomach jerks, and he’s being sick again.

It doesn’t go on for as long this time. It’s a couple of retches and a few coughs and soon the last of it seems to _finally be gone_.

He still encounters some unpleasant dry heaves in which all he brings up is clear stomach acid. It makes his throat so sore and by now his stomach feels _so much better_ but it still hurts from all of the vomiting. Of course it does.

He still clutches to the toilet bowl like it’s the only thing to keep him adrift in an endless sea. In fact, he seems to drift away for a few moments, in a shocked daze about how quickly that escalated.

The last of it ends up dripping from his mouth like the previous round, so he spits it all out once his stomach stops its stupid jerking.

He’s more than miserable, still sobbing quietly. At least it’s over now.

He hears Dean murmuring another comforting _“okay”_ before he feels Dean lean against him a little, lifting himself up so he can grab some toilet paper. Dean settles back down and moves around Cas, wiping his mouth and his nose for him before dropping the tissue into the toilet.

Cas isn’t really paying attention to anything. He’s just staring into the toilet – not specifically looking at anything – but he is far away in his head, tears continually spilling out of his eyes.

“Come here.” Dean whispers, moving him away from the toilet. Dean flushes it too, and suddenly all of the evidence of what just happened has disappeared. Apart from Cas; he’s an emotional _wreck_.

Dean pulls Cas against him and as far away as he may be, he takes hold of Dean’s jacket and his shirt in his hands, gripping tightly. He doesn’t know what else to do to make himself feel better.

He’s a little embarrassed, really. As much as he had wanted Dean to know how scared he was in his desperation before it all happened, he doesn’t really want Dean to think he’s some kind of baby. Because he certainly feels like one what with crying and feeling so hopeless.

_You’re were just scared. You’re just recovering now._ He reminds himself. It does allow him to console himself a little, calming down enough to come back to the present. He takes in a few deep breaths, being careful not to breathe out too widely. He’ll see if he can manage a mint when they get out of the bathroom. He doesn’t want to taste or smell it anymore.

“I...I’m sorry.” He croaks quietly, sniffling.

“It’s alright. Just rest for a while. It’s okay.” Dean whispers with a soft voice, holding him a little tighter. One of Dean’s hands moves to rub his stomach gently, and it does ease the soreness a little bit. Cas sighs quietly at the feeling.

He allows himself to relax against Dean, resting his head under Dean’s chin, curled in on himself. He blinks slowly, letting Dean stroke his hair.

Cas hopes Dean is okay and not completely disgusted like Cas is. Hopefully his boyfriend is fine since he’s stroking his hair and now has his other arm wrapped all the way around him. Dean still wants to be close to him.

Instead of trying to talk, Dean just lets him calm down, allowing his tears to fully subside and his breathing to return to normal. Now all Cas wants to do is sleep. He’s exhausted after being so emotionally tense and physically sick. What a horrific experience.

“I think our date should be put on hold for the time being…” Dean admits. “You think?” He asks Cas and Cas finds it quite amusing how Dean is being all _could-go-either-way_ about it. Because, obviously, they are _not_ going on at that date anymore. He loves Dean’s sense of humour.

“…hmm…I don’t know…might not be feeling up to it…” Cas plays along and Dean lets out a little laugh. He kisses the top of Cas’ head. The atmosphere around them settles again, away from the humour.

“It’s okay, Cas. We’ll plan it when you’re feeling better.” Dean decides and Cas is thankful Dean is being so understanding.

His voice is still quiet and raw, but his thoughts just seem to fall out of his mouth and turn into words “…pity. I was going to ask you if you wanted to move in with us.” Cas sort of accidentally says it, but he internally shrugs at the cat being let out of the bag.

Now _that_ is something he hadn’t planned: _ask Dean to move in when one has just been bent over the toilet puking his stomach out_. He’ll have to suggest it on that internet website he was looking at yesterday. That’ll shock everybody. Cas would laugh at the thought if he wasn’t so…so _drained_.

Dean chuckles at first (probably assuming Cas is joking) but when Cas doesn’t say anything or laugh along, Dean goes quiet for a moment “wait…what?”

“You heard me.”

There’s a longer silence where all he can feel is Dean’s hand stroking his hair, but after a while he hears Dean literally snort. “Great timing Cas. Couldn’t have picked a more convenient moment?” His boyfriend jokes. “I love you, you know that?”

Cas gives a small nod, not feeling too impatient for Dean’s answer. He knows Dean will give an answer. “I love you too.” He mumbles, pushing his head against Dean a little more, just wanting to go to sleep by now. After about an hour of suffering and trying not to be sick, Cas’ energy is at an all-time low.

“Move in, huh?” Dean questions, his fingers carding through Cas’ hair a little slower now.

Cas suddenly feels a bit shy, but he nods. “I was going to ask you tonight but…I guess it just kinda slipped out a bit…” He admits. “So…what do you think?” He forces himself to make eye contact again.

Dean smiles softly, chuckling as he says “ _yes_. Yes one thousand times.”

Cas feels a surge of excitement and happiness run through him. He’s going to live with Dean!

Another minute or two pass were they appreciate the new development in their relationship before Dean speaks again. “Cas, why didn’t you say anything?”

“I…I felt bad this morning but it went off…and, well, I didn’t want to cause a fuss if it turned out to be nothing. Didn’t wanna miss another day of work.”

“I’m your boyfriend, Cas. I wanna know if you’re not feeling well.” Dean says, tightening his hold a little. “’Cause clearly you’re not.” He says with an amused tone. Cas is glad Dean isn’t too upset that he didn’t say anything.

It’s as if they’re both ignoring the elephant in the room. After all, Cas had _admitted_ that he was _scared_. So far, Dean has only asked about the actual sickness. There _is_ a slight possibility that Dean thought nothing of it, but that’s unlikely. Dean’s clever. He notices everything.

“Thought I’d be able to push through it.” Cas says truthfully, still leaving out the fact that he’d had a fairly obvious anxiety attack over all of this.

“Stubborn much.” Dean snorts. “I’m gonna take you home and stay with you. I don’t want you to have to be alone through this.”

“You don’t have to.” Cas mumbles, his eyes getting heavier.

“No, I want to. I mean, look at you, you’re really ill. I wanna take care of you. Okay?”

“Mmkay.”

“C’mon, let’s get out of here.” Dean starts to shift first and he helps Cas up. He manages to weakly push himself to his feet with Dean’s help. He still feels a little shaky but he really feels a hell of a lot better compared to half an hour ago. Just weak and tired now.

Dean snakes an arm around his waist and they exit the bathroom slowly, Cas trying to get stable on his feet again. This thing has really shook him. More than expected, really.

When they reach the main office, Cas goes to his desk to collect his stuff while Dean enters their manager’s office and closes the door behind him.

He chooses to leave his sweater off even though it’s thin, but does slip his coat on. Some people are looking at him strangely, wondering why he dashed so suddenly out of the room. He doesn’t really care; he’s just glad he wasn’t sick on the floor in front of them all.

Although, to be honest, he’s too drained to care either way, so once he’s collected his things and put them in his bag, he sits in his desk chair in a slump and stares at the phone.

Just half an hour ago he’d been freaking out more than ever in this seat. Now he just feels all achy and numb. Maybe he could stay for another hour and see how he feels then? No he has to go home. He wants to go home.

_Stop working for two seconds._ Dean would say. _Just let yourself rest_.

Truth is, in the last year or so he hasn’t had _time_ to rest what with _planning_ to move house to another state, then actually _doing it_ with a three-year-old in tow. Being a single parent is manageable, but it really isn’t easy. He hasn’t really been able to slow down and rest for months. Cas supposes he’s just tightly wound at the minute, and is only _just_ recovering from the sheer stress of moving house. Rightly so.

He’s is thankful that he and Dean met and have fallen in love. The thought reminds him that Dean’s moving in and it fills him with so much happiness, he nearly forgets that he may have had one of the worst mornings of his life.

Dean opens the door to their manager’s office and nods at Cas. Time to go.

He stands slowly, watching Dean go to his own desk and grab his stuff before pushing his chair under the desk all the way. He double checks he has everything before turning to Cas.

Dean slings his shoulder bag over his head, grabs his briefcase and walks over to Cas, studying his face. “You good to go?” He murmurs, reaching out with his right arm to pull his coat off the rack.

Cas nods and walks out from behind the desk, leaving the office with his side pressed up against Dean’s. His boyfriend puts an arm across his lower back as they wait for the elevator, and the both of them remain silent until Cas is sitting in Dean’s car while Dean puts their things in the back seat.  

Cas finds comfort in resting his head against the cool window. It soothes his warm skin and it makes him wonder if he has a fever like Jimmy did on the first day. He doesn’t even let himself think about being sick again. Hopefully now it’s happened, it won’t happen again what with its…its power and stupid _quantity_. Cas can only hope.

Dean slides into the driver’s seat, but doesn’t turn the keys in the ignition. Cas doesn’t move, but he senses that Dean is about to start a conversation.

“What happened in there, Cas?” He whispers, looking over at him. Cas doesn’t look back, but he can see Dean in the corner of his eye. “You said you were scared…and sure, puking is crappy but…you got _scared?”_ He puts gently.

Cas still doesn’t move, but he sees Dean move closer. He puts his arm around Cas’ shoulders and slowly drags him over to rest his head on his shoulder.

“It’s a thing.” Cas says, swallowing. “It’s just a thing I have about being sick. I don’t like it.”

“I know you don’t like it but, man, I didn’t think you hated it that much. Enough to have that panic attack thing.” Dean runs his thumb up and down Cas’ shoulder. “It’s something deeper than that, right?”

Cas takes a deep breath, deeply rooted memories floating to the surface. “I got sick at thanksgiving once when I was like four. Gabe noticed I wasn’t looking good at the dinner table and him and Michael just about got me to the bathroom in time, but I couldn’t hold on quite long enough to get to the toilet, so I threw up on the floor. I peed my pants at the time as well, but I guess that’s irrelevant in this situation.

“The whole thing just freaked me out and I’ve had this fear of it ever since. But like, I’m fine when other people are sick but when _I’m_ the one who’s being sick? No. Absolutely no. Do _not_ like that at all.” Cas finishes, adding “I’m sorry. I know I should have told you. It just…I don’t know…I was feeling really stressed out…”

“It’s okay Cas, I understand. I’m just glad you’re okay; you worried me in there.” Dean turns his head to kiss his temple.

“Sorry. I was panicking. The whole idea of it gets to me and it…yeah it’s just scary for me I guess.”

“I can see why. Maybe it’s a phobia thing, y’know?”

Cas has never thought of it like that. “You’re right, maybe it is. I’ve never tried thinking about it rationally because the mere thought of it is freaky but yeah, it could be.”

Dean nods, and they go silent for a while just like they did back in the bathroom. His fingers are in Cas’ hair and Cas closes his eyes, thankful for Dean’s support in all of this. It’s nice to have someone around who is happy to look after him. It’s been just him and Jimmy for so long that he’s only just getting used to Dean fussing over him all the time.

“Shall we go home?” Dean suggests, his hand still moving.

“Yeah. Home.” Cas manages a small smile. _Home_. _Their home_.

 

* * *

 

As soon as Cas unlocks the front door, he walks inside the house on a mission. He dumps his stuff on the table and reaches for the cupboards above the kitchen counter in a search for the bottle of ginger ale he’s had for a good while, the bottle just sitting there collecting dust. He forgot he had it, otherwise he would have given Jimmy some yesterday, but he only just remembered it on the way home today and now he _really really_ wants it. It might help prevent another vomit session.

On the third cupboard, he finds it right at the back and drags it out, putting it on the counter next to the water glass he used this morning. Cas works on undoing the cap of the glass bottle and it soon splits open.

He lowers it and pours it with shaky hands, the glass and the bottle clinking as the brown-ish clear liquid swirls into the glass.

Since the glass is quite small, it fills quite quickly and Cas decides to drink it straight off, lifting the glass before downing some of it. Okay, he’s freaking out a little bit.

When he goes to pour some more, he feels gentle hands on his own, stopping him from moving. He forgot Dean was there for a few moments in his desperation to drink the stupid ginger.

“Stop, stop.” Dean says softly. “Panicking about it happening again will just make it worse. Don’t drink any more now. Just sip at it when you’ve calmed down a bit.”

Cas can feel Dean’s presence behind him and he relaxes against it.

_Come on, Cas. Chill. Listen to Dean and chill._

As the muscles in his shoulders stop tensing and droop, Dean guides him away from the counter. “That’s it. Just relax for me.”

Cas nods, knowing he needs to goddamn chill out. His fear of sickness isn’t usually quite _this bad_. He thinks maybe he’s still worked up about it because he spent the entire morning stressing over it.

“Dean, I’m sorry. I don’t know what’s going on with me.” He sighs, slipping his coat off while he toes his shoes. Dean takes his coat from him.

“It’s fine, Cas. Having an actual fear of something isn’t a crime. Y’know, I have a crazy fear of pies suddenly disappearing off the earth?”

“…really?”

“Yeah! I freak out about it all the time.”

Cas squints at him. “You’ve never said that before.”

Dean shakes his head. “I was worried that if I told you, it would come true.”

Cas searches Dean’s face and sees the _tiniest, smallest_ hint of a smile. “Oh, you idiot.”

Dean bursts out laughing. “You’re so gullible! I can’t believe you fell for that!”

Cas rolls his eyes. “Dick.”

Dean snorts. “Okay, sure, that was a lie but do you see what I mean? Everyone’s got a chink in their armour.”

“I know. I just hate being scared of such a common human thing. It’s ridiculous.”

“Nah Cas. It’s just a childhood thing. You have your reasons.” Dean shrugs. “Why don’t you go grab a shower? Will it help you feel better?”

Cas ponders over the idea for a moment. “Yeah. I’ll do that. Okay.” He swallows and unclips his watch from around his wrist before putting it down on the coffee table.

Dean steps closer and pulls him into a hug. “You’ll feel better soon. It’ll be over by tomorrow.”

“I hope.” Cas says, pulling away.

Dean smiles. “I’ll meet you upstairs after?”

“Okay.” He returns the smile, refraining from kissing Dean in case he passes the sickness to him. He’d feel super guilty if that happened. In fact, “are you sure though? I don’t want you to get sick too.”

“As I said before, Cas. It’s _fine_. I’ll be fine.” He nods in reassurance and Cas gives up trying to reason with him, managing a small, playful smile.

“Okay, well then, if you catch this thing, you’re not allowed to blame me? Capiche?”

Dean holds his hands up, chuckling. “Capiche, capiche. Sure.”

Cas nods before wandering out of the room to go upstairs.

 

* * *

 

When he opens the bathroom door wearing nothing but a t-shirt, hoodie and boxers, Cas sees Dean sitting on his bed, scrolling through his phone. He’s feeling very tired now – more than earlier – so he’s looking forward to curling up under the blankets.

Dean looks up and gives a small smile, putting his phone down. He holds his arms open when Cas peels back the covers to climb in.

Cas shuffles over to Dean and snuggles up against him straight away. He feels calm now. Much better.

Dean wraps an arm around him and they sit quietly for a few relaxing minutes. Cas is teetering on the edge of dropping off, but Dean suddenly speaks, so he keeps himself awake for just a while longer.

“Just checking, but did you actually ask me to move in with you or were you delirious?” Dean moves a hand into his hair, stroking slowly.

“Delirious. I don’t like you _that_ much.” Cas mumbles sleepily ( _obviously,_ he’s joking), the hair stroking making it harder to stay awake.

He’s enjoying getting revenge for Dean’s earlier _‘I’m scared of pies disappearing’_ teasing though, so he’ll fight with all his strength to stay awake for this.

Dean is silent for a while. Cas wonders whether he’s actually fallen for it.

“…are you sure?” Dean wonders, voice quieter.

“About being delirious?” Cas murmurs again, pushing his head against Dean a little more, appreciating the warmth of his neck.

“Yah.”

“Positive. I’m not ready for that yet.”

Dean is quiet for a while again. Cas really got him! Yes!

“…okay.”

Cas tries his best not to laugh. He’d never be that mean, even in a delirious mid-puke state. He just wouldn’t do that. He could never ask such a big question then turn around and say _oh, hang on a minute…nahhhh._

“Who’s the gullible one _now_.” Cas says and it takes Dean all of three seconds to realise Cas has been messing with him. Cas smirks and Dean sees his smile.

“Oh man. I brought that on myself, didn’t I?” He laughs quietly, kissing the top of Cas’ head. “So you’re joking, huh?”

“Of course.” Cas wraps an arm around Dean, squeezing tight. “I’d love for you to move in. One hundred percent. That was just my revenge for your fake pie phobia.”

“ _Fake pie phobia_.” Dean snickers at Cas’ wording.

“Mmhm.” Cas hums, snuggling against Dean more. “Despite getting my revenge, I love you and I want you to move in. Will you?”

“Well…uhhmm…”

“Don’t even think about it, Winchester.” Cas shuts down Dean’s reciprocating joke straight away.

Dean smiles down at him, laughing. “Yeah. Yeah, I will. I’ll move in.” He leans down a little further and presses a kiss to Cas’ cheek this time. “Love you too.”

“Good. I can’t…wait…” Cas mumbles, sleep starting to take over.

A few seconds pass where only their quiet breathing can be heard. That’s what eventually lulls Cas to sleep; the thought of being able to be in Dean’s arms _every night_ and hear their mixed breathing _every night_. And to feel complete, _every night._

 

* * *

 

“I can’t stop thinking of pie now.” Dean complains quietly, and no reply comes from Cas. He leans down to see if he’s okay and sees that Cas has fallen asleep, his unusually pale face (from being ill – poor Cas) relaxed and peaceful despite the sickness.

Dean smiles, hugging him close. He’s absolutely delighted about moving in. Cas really had got him there. Luckily Cas was joking.

Dean is _so_ happy about this new development, whether he was first asked on a bathroom floor or not. He loves Cas’ originality. Who _wouldn’t_ want to be asked to move in while sitting on a bathroom floor as their partner is being sick to the bottom of their stomach? Right?

Dean laughs quietly. It’s a funny story to tell, that’s for sure.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sooo the reason I made this chapter more graphic in terms of the sickness is because it's all from Castiel's POV. Because he's got this fear of it, he'd be thinking about every small detail possible (poor bean) :(
> 
> Aside from that, I've enjoyed writing Dean and Cas joking around with each other (despite everything that's happening with Cas in this chapter haha) and of course, Castiel's important question has turned out well - yay! 
> 
> Let me know if you enjoyed this - people's comments on my fics always make my day (even concrit lol - if there is a mistake in it, feel free to tell me so I can correct it). 
> 
> Another fic (a oneshot this time) will be posted to this series today or tomorrow so keep your eyes open for that too! :D


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